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As widely reported on June 23, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that local governments may force property owners to sell their homes to make way for private economic development when officials decide it would benefit the public, even if the property is not blighted and the new project's success is not guaranteed.
According to this ruling which, thanks to the Looney Lefties (Justices Souter, Stevens, Ginsburg, Kennedy and Breyer), is now the law of the land, the city of Saratoga could force me to sell my house to, say, the 7-Eleven Corporation if they wanted the land for a convenience store. (It might make some sense as there isn't one for over two miles in any direction from my house.) This is all perfectly legal. All it would take is for the city to decide that the public benefit (tax revenue) would be better for the city than the continued presence of the Farmer family.
As that is the law of the land, and as the Connecticut city of New London can take 90 acres from private citizens in order to put in a shopping center, why can't Saratoga plant some flat grass in a public park for kids to kick a ball on?
What is it about Saratoga that makes nominally sane people go nuts? A homeowner plants a tree (no permission required) and a few years later decides that he doesn't want it anymore. Now he has to ask permission to cut it down? What's with that?
The city has an opportunity to pave a dirt path so that it would be more pleasant to walk on and the neighbors complain. What's the matter with you people? Turn the TV off and go out for a walk. Get to know someone. Geez!
The city builds a park in a nice little town where people like to raise their kids. Life is good, the schools are good and after a few years the law of nature works and there are more kids. Unfortunately there are more predators (even in Saratoga) and you can't just send your kids out to play anymore. They need to be supervised and watched over; cared for. The real need for additional play space is apparent to everyone who has participated with youth activities. That park could be more effectively utilized and instead of the city being able to make reasonable accommodations to increase play space, the neighbors whine and moan and hold the city hostage with threats of lawsuits. Some of these people need to be taken out to the woodshed. Half of that park is nice. The other half consists of bare dirt and rotting trees.
How about we just sell the park to the neighbors? If the city cannot or will not do its duty for the benefit of the majority of the city, just reverse what New London did and force the sale of that 10-acre park to the neighbors. Ten acres at $2.5 million per acre (about the going rate) and the city now has $25 million in the coffers, and allow property taxes to be collected from those neighbors on that 10 acres. That should be enough to clear off that blighted patch of land next to the library and put in some grass for the kids.
While I'm at it, I'm thinking about a lawsuit of my own. My First Amendment rights are being violated in Saratoga. Freedom of speech is our most cherished right protected by the Constitution. In most of Saratoga, my cell phone doesn't work. If it doesn't work, my speech is cut off, effectively silencing my speech in direct violation of the Constitution. I've read the Constitution and I'm here to tell you that nowhere is it written that someone's right to look at the mountains without seeing a cell tower trumps my right to free speech.
There is some sanity to report in Saratoga. Despite the protests, civil rioting and gnashing of teeth and tearing of clothes, Starbucks is open downtown. Yea! The football stands are in! Double Yea! Now, if we could just get a Walmart.
Just kidding!
Dennis W. Farmer lives on El Camino Grande in Saratoga.
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